Donald Trump wants to lead the Republican Party. The Republican Party still isn't sure what it wants to do with Donald Trump.

Trump has begun urging party officials to unite behind him as he moves closer to the GOP presidential nomination, promising to campaign for vulnerable Republican incumbents and expand the party's majorities in Congress. But the GOP's senators, instead of welcoming him with open arms, are furiously developing unique plans to pitch and maintain their own personal political appeal with blue-state voters, separate from the brash businessman and his 62 percent unfavorable rating, which many party strategists believe would poison down-ballot candidates' chances if Trump tops the Republican ticket.

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In New Hampshire, GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte's campaign will rely on door-knocking and person-to-person interactions to maintain her independent brand, a strategy that other candidates in small states or districts may favor. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and others will lean on hefty campaign bank accounts and TV ads to define themselves and their Democratic opponents separately from the presidential race. Sen. Ron Johnson could play up his own blunt manner in Wisconsin while avoiding Trump's sharper edges. And in Pennsylvania, Sen. Pat Toomey is banking on a moderate policy achievements and his state's historic proclivity for ticket-splitting.

"A grand strategy would require a one-size-fits-all approach, and there isn't one," said Josh Holmes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's former chief of staff. "The grand strategy was to not have a [presidential] candidate who is trailing the Democrat by 12 points."

The patchwork, choose-your-own-adventure approach emerging is a marked departure from the GOP's cohesive messaging and national strategies of recent elections. But Trump would be a very different presidential nominee. Republicans believe their incumbents can use these customized approaches to motivate cross-party voters and ward off a Trump-led disaster. But presidential and congressional results have been converging for years as those voters became rarer around the country. Democrats believe they're watching a familiar scene develop — but this time from the other side.

"You know who else each had particular reasons they would be able to beat back the coming wave? Red-state Democrats in 2014," said one Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to freely discuss the party's past failures. "None of them are still around."

Swing-seat Republicans will also have to contend with another problem red-state Democrats know well, if Trump is their nominee: how to go after swing voters without alienating Trump supporters in their base by straying too far from him.

"The challenge becomes, if those Republican candidates in those districts do separate themselves from Trump, is there a price to be paid for that?" said Jason Roe, a California-based GOP House strategist who also served as a spokesman for Marco Rubio's presidential campaign. "That's what a lot of national leaders are wrestling with. Do we embrace Trump and guarantee long-term pain, or do we distance ourselves and suffer short-term pain?"

Republicans insist their congressional campaigns can still stand apart from the presidential race, pointing to history lessons from 1984 and 1996 Senate races as evidence. And statewide campaigns, in particular, have transformed into bigger operations since then. Two GOP senators, Portman and Toomey, already have more than $10 million saved for reelection and spent last year investing in major field and data operations.

Many Republican incumbents, including those two, represent states where President Barack Obama won twice, meaning they already were preparing for a year without local presidential coattails.

"It slightly changes the magnitude of how far we have to run ahead of the top of the ticket," said one Senate general consultant, who was granted anonymity so he could speak freely about the likely Republican nominee. "But I don't think it dramatically changes what we have to do."

"This year's crop of incumbent senators are smart, hardworking, and have delivered for their states — their records will stand alone, regardless of who is at the top of the ticket," said Ian Prior, the communications director for the Crossroads network of GOP outside groups.

In New Hampshire, Ayotte already has field captains in almost every town, something her campaign believes will help her maintain an independent brand in a state of just 1.3 million people.

"The stronger your own brand, the stronger your own identity in the state, the more inoculated you are," GOP pollster Christine Matthews said.

In Pennsylvania, Toomey started airing TV ads targeting moderate suburban women — the type of swing voters who could prove most allergic to Trump — last year, touting bipartisan proposals like one designed to keep sex offenders from getting jobs at schools. He's hoping state history is some guide: in 2000, then-Sen. Rick Santorum ran 10 percentage points ahead of George W. Bush, winning reelection while his presidential nominee lost Pennsylvania.

The more recent history is more sobering for Republicans, though: Fewer and fewer senators from either party have outrun the presidential race by that much in each successive election. In 2012, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey — a longtime statewide elected official whose father had been Pennsylvania's governor — and his opponent ran almost exactly in line with Obama and Mitt Romney at the top of the ticket in Toomey's state.

House candidates, meanwhile, almost universally lack even the narrow ability to define themselves that some senators still possess.

"Most nominees consider themselves to be party builders who raise resources that pay for the ground game for down-ticket races to utilize. ... it's not clear, unless Donald Trump is prepared to write a billion-dollar check out of his own account, where he's going to raise those funds," said a senior Republican operative. "But at least for now, I think it's a legitimate concern that someone who has run against the establishment and establishment donors, who gave to Bush and Romney, what his pitch is going to be to them so they fund operations."

In the meantime, though, don't expect to see too many Republican officeholders outright disavow Trump. It's still unclear whether the businessman will actually win enough GOP primaries, which stretch into June, to win the nomination. When Portman's campaign released a general election strategy memo Tuesday, Donald Trump's name was noticeably omitted.

Even if Trump is the nominee, some Republicans believe Trump's protectionist, populist stances could help galvanize voters up and down the ticket in certain areas of the country where he's done well in primaries so far, like the Northeast and Upper Midwest. And multiple GOP strategists cautioned that campaigns still don't feel like they have solid data about just how damaging, or not, Trump would be to their prospects.

"That's like 30 steps down the road here," the Republican general consultant said of how to deal with Trump. The consultant, who is working in one of the most competitive Senate races, noted that there are still four months between now and an increasingly possible contested GOP convention.

But many in the GOP are convinced that any gains among blue-collar white voters Trump might prompt would get wiped out on the other side of the ledger through lost support from suburban women and minorities, especially in the West.

"I think the fear for our party is that we are killing ourselves with Hispanics and millennials for a generation if we embrace Trump," said Roe, the California Republican. "... I understand and recognize that Trump inspires some disaffected voters to get engaged, but what that doesn't account for is how many people he repels in swing districts."

Republicans working on Senate races remain bullish, even if many D.C.-based strategists see only doom and gloom. One GOP campaign manager said he didn't need "lectures" from national strategists who failed to stop Trump in the presidential primaries.

In the meantime, though, Democrats eagerly note that they have tape of virtually every Republican Senate candidate and plenty of House members vowing to support the Republican nominee, even as Trump moved closer to clinching that slot.

"The Republican Party stood idly by as Donald Trump hurled offensive comments and hateful rhetoric at women, immigrants and hardworking families," said Jessica Mackler, president of the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge 21st Century, in a statement Tuesday night. Ultimately, Trump looks set to be a bigger part of Democrats' message than Republicans' if he is the GOP nominee.